Elliot Lefkowitz

Dr. Elliot Lefkowitz is a Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with significant leadership roles across multiple research centers. He serves as the Director of Informatics for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Director of the Molecular and Genetic Bioinformatics Facility at the Center for AIDS Research, and Director of the Bioinformatics Core for the Microbiome Facility.

Dr. Lefkowitz's research focuses on microbial genomics and evolution, bioinformatics, and clinical informatics. His work involves developing computational tools to analyze biological sequence data for patterns related to function and evolution. Specific research areas include viral regulatory motif detection, viral gene identification, and High Performance Computing applications for bioinformatics analysis.

Among his notable contributions is the development of the Viral Bioinformatics Resource Center, one of the original NIH-sponsored Bioinformatics Resource Centers for Biodefense and Emerging or Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases. He has also created databases, web applications, and analysis tools for sequencing and annotating complete bacterial and viral genomes.

Dr. Lefkowitz's work bridges computational science with infectious disease research, providing critical infrastructure for understanding viral evolution and supporting research on pathogens including HIV. His leadership in multiple bioinformatics facilities demonstrates his central role in UAB's research ecosystem.